


first, Second, and always

by mothwrites



Series: tripartite [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Family Dynamics, Light Angst, Love Triangles, Mentor/Protégé, Multi, Platonic Soulmates, Post-Battle of New York (Marvel), Pre-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Romantic Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-10
Updated: 2016-06-10
Packaged: 2018-07-14 03:44:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7151693
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mothwrites/pseuds/mothwrites
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“So let me get this straight,” Rick said, sitting up. “You accidentally fell in love with your Second before you met your First. And now you’ve met your First and he’s in love with you, but you feel like you’re cheating on Betty, even though biologically and according to all rules of nature and common sense, he’s the one you’re supposed to be with. Am I getting this right or are you even more of a mess than I thought?”</p><p>A universe where everyone has three soulmates; a lover, a friend, and a carer. Like so many people in the world, Bruce Banner has finally met all three of his. He just didn't count on having fallen in love with more than one of them.<br/>(Tony/Bruce endgame.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	first, Second, and always

**Author's Note:**

> Soulmate AUs are fun. In this one you get three of them; a romantic love, a platonic love, and a mentor/student relationship. Don't find a mentor when you're young? Easy, you'll grow up to be one. Meet your platonic soulmate in college and accidentally fall in love with them? Not so easy.  
> This will be a series of one-shots jumping around timelines and just exploring the verse. Hope you enjoy!

**first, Second, and always**

“Your situation is so fucked up,” Rick informed Bruce cheerily. “Almost feels like I should be _your_ mentor and not the other way around, huh?”

“ _Language_ ,” Bruce chided, leaning back in his chair with his hands over his eyes. “But yeah, this is a fucking nightmare. Pass me a cigarette.”

Bruce blamed Rick entirely for the resurgence of his smoking habit. His third soulmate’s reappearance in his life had brought with him memories, a threadbare backpack stuffed with sheet music and notebooks, and the lingering smell of stale cigarettes on every piece of clothing he owned. Just being around him in the first few weeks had made him want to light up. It was over a shared cigarette on the tower balcony that Rick first asked the question.

“Hey – so is Betty your First, or what?”

Bruce paused for a moment, letting smoke curl over his lips before blowing it away. “I’m not actually sure anymore. ”

“Okay,” Rick continued, clearly a little confused. “Haven’t you two known each other for like, twenty years?”

Bruce stopped short. “ _Twenty years?_ Rick, how old do you think I am? No, don’t answer that.” He sighed, running a hand through his hair. “Tony’s my First. That’s slightly undeniable, we could both feel it the second we met. But Betty is… Betty.“

“So let me get this straight,” Rick said, sitting up. “You accidentally fell in love with your Second before you met your First. And now you’ve met your First and he’s in love with _you,_ but you feel like you’re cheating on Betty, even though biologically and according to all rules of nature and common sense, he’s the one you’re supposed to be with. Am I getting this right or are you even more of a mess than I thought?”

 “Look,” Bruce groaned, “it’s complicated. Adult relationships are complicated. You can write that down.”

“I’m not taking notes from you on anything,” Rick said. “If it wasn’t for the whole saving-my-life thing you’d be the worst mentor anyone’s ever been given.”

“I didn’t ask for you either,” Bruce grumbled, but he ruffled Rick’s hair and Rick bumped his hip, and momentarily, he felt at peace with the whole relationships issue. At least with Rick he knew what he was: a mentor, albeit an unpractised one. It was an all-too-short period of calm before his heart flipped to let him know that Tony Stark had come out to lean against the doorway to the balcony.

“You astonish me,” Tony told him, shaking his head. “Every single time I see you with one of those, I weep for your lungs.”

“I do the same for your liver,” Bruce replied, and they both grinned like schoolkids. Bruce stubbed out his cigarette, and looked over at Rick to give him the traditional _“scram, kid,”_ head jerk, but no-one was there. He had already slipped out and was making his way through the communal living area inside, because he was the _best_ Third and Bruce would never say otherwise again. Still smiling, he hooked his thumbs into Tony’s belt loops and drew him in closer. “Hey, you.”

“Hey yourself,” Tony replied into the crook of Bruce’s neck. “Where have you been?”

Bruce didn’t say, “Video calling Betty,” because despite all evidence to the contrary, he really _wasn’t_ a masochist. Still, Tony seemed to grasp what he really meant. He shuffled backwards, and Bruce could feel the waves of irritation coming off him, but as always had no idea what to do about it. Other than try to kiss him again, which he knew wouldn’t go well. Since he’d had his first panic about inadvertently cheating on Betty, his girlfriend of eight _(eight,_ thank you Rick) years, Tony had been reluctant to touch him in any way that could be deemed “inappropriate”. The hug he’d gotten minutes ago was rare in comparison. It was frustrating; he was practically touch _starved,_ but he’d brought it on himself.

“When does she fly in?” Tony asked, for the fourth time that week.

“Tomorrow evening,” Bruce replied. “Do you want to-“

“No,” Tony said instantly. Bruce cursed the mental link between them, and then stopped, because that would only make it worse. “No, I don’t want to come with you to pick up your _Second._ ”

There was a moment, while Bruce pulsed irritation and Tony rolled his eyes in response, that Bruce wished he had a mentor of his own to steer him through it all. Rick piped up in the back of his head, “ _Are you okay?”_

 _“Dealing,”_ Bruce shot back. “ _Mind your own business,”_ he added, though he nodded gratefully in Rick’s direction. Tony followed his gaze.

“Are you – “ Tony looked at him quizzically. “Are you talking to Rick right now?”

“Oh, I’m sorry. That was rude. He’s going now.”

“No, it’s not that. I just didn’t know you two could…” Tony trailed off. “Look, whatever.”

 _Don’t be like this,_ Bruce wanted to say. “I’m sorry,” he said instead.

“Yeah,” Tony sighed. “Like you keep saying.”

*

Bruce had never had any trouble directly communicating with his soulmates before. With Betty, they’d spent a few awkward days avoiding each other in the aftermath of finding out that their easy, flirtatious rivalry was going to be a lifetime commitment, but that was all. Soon they were back to trading ideas and jabs and bad pick-up lines like usual, but telepathically: a relief for their classmates. With Rick, the first words he’d ever heard in his head that weren’t his or Betty’s was a cry for help, as his sixteen-year-old Third realised he’d been tricked into an arena primed for a nuclear explosion. The years of separation had been tricky, and Bruce wasn’t sure if the link would still be there when he got back. He’d been walking the streets around Stark Tower in the aftermath of the attacks, and the faint telepathic call of _“Turn around, old man,”_ had been an incredible relief.

With Tony, there was nothing beyond the basic link. He could pick up on his emotions, and occasionally ‘pulse’ a strong feeling or desire towards him, but nothing in the way of real communication. It wasn’t helping matters.

Bruce tapped at his phone nervously. Betty was touching down at JFK that evening and Tony hadn’t spoken to him for the entirety of the day before. Beside him, Rick was chatting happily in a desperate attempt to alleviate both their anxiety; Bruce’s worries were Rick’s worries, after all. He only half heard him, and if pressed, could not have specified whether he was half-heartedly listening to him in his mind or not. They had that seamless kind of telepathic connection where one could start a sentence out loud and finish it in the other’s head. Bruce, for his part, was relentlessly ‘scanning’ the airwaves for a sign that Betty was close enough to communicate with. Being Linked for as long as they had been meant that even when they were separated across continents, he still got the occasional flash of strong emotion or pulse of determined energy from her. Now, of course, they’d finally be able to talk again. Video chats and texting just hadn’t been the same.

_“And then, of course, there’s the 2014 model…”_

_“Rick, shut up.”_

He’d just gotten a swooping sensation in his stomach, as if _he_ was the one touching down in a plane. Unless Tony had decided to take the Iron Man suit for a ride, that meant…

“ _Bruce?”_ It wasn’t Tony’s voice. It wasn’t even Rick’s. Bruce grinned and felt a wave of absurd relief wash over both of them.

 _“Hey you,_ ” he sent back. _“Hurry up, three years is long enough.”_

 _“Let me concentrate.”_ He could feel how light-headed they both were from the rush of contact after so much silence. After ten tense minutes, he finally watched Betty jostle through the throng of passengers milling their way through departures. Almost unconsciously, he started moving forward until he was blocked by the barrier and leaned forward with such determination as if he could pull Betty towards him faster with the intensity of his gaze. They could both feel Rick beaming at them.

“ _Fanboy,”_ Bruce smirked.

 _“Can’t help it. You two are adorable._ ”

Bruce shoved him lightly and tuned him out, so that when he and Betty were finally face-to-face again all he could see was her. Like teenagers on a first date, they both experienced a heart-stopping moment of anxiety: hug or kiss? First or Second?

A moment was all it took. Betty pulled him into a hug, crying joyfully into his shoulder as she did so. Seconds, then. Bruce heaved a sigh of relief that left his throat as a sob, and felt more safe and comfortable than he had in years in the knowledge that this woman, this friend, could never again be taken away from him.

“You two,” Rick said fondly. They broke apart, and Betty grinned at him with wet, shimmering eyes.

“Oh, kiddo. Come here.”

Bruce stepped aside to let Betty envelop Rick in a hug.

“You got so tall!” She laughed. “Where’s our skinny thirteen year-old, huh?”

“I was sixteen!” He protested.

“He’s all grown up,” Bruce said. “He can legally drink and everything.”

“Never stopped you before,” Betty joked.  “Oh, come on, you two. I want to meet my usurper in your affections.” She immediately quashed the guilt that rose up in Bruce’s stomach with a look, and he nodded at her.

“ _All right.”_ They both got the sense that they would be able to talk about it later, and also the knowledge that they didn’t especially need to. Betty was, and had always been Betty. His first, Second, and always. Tony couldn’t change that just as Betty could never change him. Bruce saw it now: a future full of infinite new experiences with this man who he had only known for a few days, but who would be in his life forever.

 _If  her ever forgives you,_ a voice said, and Bruce looked at two of his soulmates in surprise before he realised it was only himself talking. He felt the solid weight of guilt settle securely back down on his stomach, and the silent reassurances of Betty and Rick did nothing to console him. He’d rejected his soulmate. His _First._ How could he – they – move on from that?

The ride to Stark Tower wasn’t especially awkward, but there was a heavy silence as the three of them readjusted to each other’s company, and Betty got used to sharing Bruce’s head with another person for the first time. The conversation only got going as Rick realised that Betty could only hear him out loud; and their stilted, half-and-half discourse turned into a rush of overlapping questions and comforts and _it’s-so-good-to-see-you’_ s. By the time they finally reached Stark Tower, Bruce felt a little calmer, a little more secure. He was present enough to reach out to Rick and give him a mental head-pat, laughing as his Third physically shied away (but grinned.)

 _“Don’t worry,”_ Bruce only half-teased. “ _Mom and Dad won’t fight in front of you.”_

_“If you think I’m ever calling you ‘Daddy’ you’ve got another think coming, old man.”_

_“Hey, ‘Daddy’ was never on the table.”_

Out of habit Bruce opened Betty’s door for her, in an act more of companionship rather than chivalry. She took his hand to climb out onto the pavement and it was at that point that Bruce’s heart _pinged_ and Tony and Betty locked eyes for the first time. He’d obviously come to greet them, having seen – or felt – Bruce arrive. Tony’s face fell incrementally and Bruce realised in that moment that he hadn’t let go of Betty’s hand. He dropped it, but the damage was done. Tony smoothed his face back into the amiable mask he wore for nearly everyone.

“Are you okay?” Rick asked quietly.

“I’m, uh – _Having a moment,_ ” he finished in his head. Rick nodded and assumed what Bruce affectionately called the ‘guard dog’ pose.

“Give him a second,” Betty suggested fondly, with a grin.

Tony’s face switched to a sudden understanding. “Oh, shit. This must be really weird for you.”

 _“Weird for me?”_ Bruce said to no-one in particular. _“Me?”_ And then it struck him, squarely in the chest, that all three of his soulmates were together in front of him for the first time. Together, and beautiful, and _safe._ He thought he might cry.

 _“Get it together, Banner,”_ Rick piped up.

“Yeah,” Bruce finally managed to say. “It’s… It’s something, all right.”

Betty took the opportunity to wave at Tony. “Betty Ross. Congratulations!”

“Congratulations?” Tony repeated as he shook her hand.

Bruce interjected. “I’m not a _competition_.” He felt sulky and dizzyingly happy at the same time. He’d read studies about this, but had never thought he’d finally experience it in the flesh. “Look, could you two maybe…”

“I’ll show Betty where’s what,” Rick said immediately, taking her arm. “You kids have fun.”

Tony watched Bruce as he watched his Second and Third walk away together with a look of curiosity, and, Bruce thought, fear. He wanted to eradicate the look from his face. He wanted a lot of things.

“Are you scared of me?” Bruce asked suddenly.

“You confuse me,” Tony said. “And that’s scary, when you’re a genius.”

“Tell me about it.” There was a pause in which Tony looked like he was waiting for something, so Bruce said, “I’m sorry.” Again.

“Don’t. I hate apologies.”

“You should have had better than this.” It was something Bruce had said to all his soulmates in the past, and something he’d never really stopped believing. Betty deserved a better partner. Rick deserved a better mentor. Tony deserved a better lover.

“Stop that,” Tony said, his expression softening. “Come inside.” When Bruce was obviously reluctant, he sighed and pulled a little on his sleeve. “You saved my life, Banner. In more ways than one. I’m not going to sulk just because you practically ignored me for a week, so let’s just forget about it.”

“I ignored _you?”_ Bruce asked incredulously. “I’m not the one who – look, we should probably talk about this in depth, like reasonable adults.”

Tony shuddered for dramatic effect. Or at least, Bruce hoped it was for dramatic effect. “Let’s not and say we did.”

“ _Tony_.” He tried to sound firm but it came out oddly fond, and Tony grinned at him.

“Come inside. Rhodey wants to yell at you.”

“I deserve that. Betty probably wants to yell at both of us.”

“I’d consider it an honour to be yelled at by Dr Elizabeth Ross. You take that woman for granted.”

“I really don’t,” Bruce murmured as they walked inside together and reached the elevator. “Look – I am, you know. Sorry.”

In Tony’s defence, Bruce thought later, he did at least wait until the elevator doors closed before he pinned Bruce to the mirrored wall with a fierce kiss.

 _“I don’t want you to be sorry,”_ Tony said, even while his lips were otherwise occupied. _“I just want you to be mine.”_

Bruce allowed himself a moment of shock and jubilation before he pushed forward and started to kiss him with the same intensity. _“Did you come up with that by yourself, or did you find it in a Hallmark card?”_

Tony pulled away with an impish grin and diverted his attention to Bruce’s neck; nipping him in retribution for his sarcastic comment and then soothing the spot with a kiss. “ _This is going to be fun. I can tell.”_

 _“Elevator doors are open, guys,”_ Rick supplied helpfully, and Bruce gave him the finger without even looking up. Inside his head, Rick laughed, and Tony purred contentedly. He could feel a faint smirk coming from Betty, and Hulk, a different but equally as strong presence, rumbled from somewhere deep in his chest. Curious, but calm.

Four voices to listen to. Three to love, and one to manage.

“ _Scram,_ ” he thought in Rick’s general direction, and hit the elevator doors closed again.


End file.
